Medical side effects tracking

ABSTRACT

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system for monitoring medical events for adverse effects includes at least one processor. The processor may be configured to identify one or more medical events within patient medical information by applying first analytics to the medical information. The medical information may include unstructured information. The processor is further configured to determine adverse effects of the identified medical events and corresponding time intervals of occurrence by applying second analytics to medical reference information, wherein effect information includes the identified medical events, determined adverse effects, and corresponding time intervals of occurrence. In addition, the processor is configured to determine from the effect information any adverse effects for a patient and the corresponding time intervals of occurrence. Finally, the processor is configured to notify a user of the determined adverse effects prior to initiation of the corresponding time intervals of occurrence.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

Present invention embodiments relate to tracking medical side effectsfor a patient and, more specifically, analyzing medical information ofpatients and providing, to the patients, notifications of medical sideeffects that they could potentially experience.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

In the medical field, almost every treatment or medicine containsassociated side effects that patients experience. For some patients, itis guaranteed or inevitable that certain side effects are inevitable orguaranteed to occur based on the medicine or treatment received. Thetype of side effects experienced by patients may vary greatly. Forexample, side effects can range from a mild fever or rash to a dangerousside effect that requires medical attention. In addition, the sideeffects experienced by different individuals may vary even though theindividuals may be taking the same medication or receiving the sametreatment.

Patients may routinely return to their doctors when experiencing sideeffects despite the fact that the side effect may not require medicalattention from the doctor. Repeated unnecessary visits increases thecosts incurred both by the patient and the medical offices.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system formonitoring medical events for adverse effects includes at least oneprocessor. The at least one processor may be configured to identify oneor more medical events within the medical information of patients byapplying a first analytics to the medical information. The medicalinformation may include unstructured information. The processor isfurther configured to determine adverse effects of the identifiedmedical events and corresponding time intervals of occurrence byapplying second analytics to the medical reference information, whereineffect information includes the identified medical events, determinedadverse effects, and corresponding time intervals of occurrence. Inaddition the processor is configured to determine from the effectinformation one or more adverse effects for a medical event of a patientand the corresponding time intervals of occurrence. Finally, theprocessor is configured to notify a user of the determined adverseeffects prior to initiation of the corresponding time intervals ofoccurrence.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Generally, like reference numerals in the various figures are utilizedto designate like components.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of an example of a computingenvironment for use with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a procedural flow chart illustrating an example manner formonitoring medical events for adverse effects according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a procedural flowchart illustrating an example of an activealert system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of the notification displayed on a mobile deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a procedural flow chart illustrating an example of a passivealert system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Like reference numerals have been used to identify like elementsthroughout this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention embodiments pertain to a system and method formonitoring medical events for adverse side effects and notifying thepatient of the possibility of the occurrence of an adverse side effect.The system utilizes text analytics (i.e., both-rules based andstatistical) on patient medical information (e.g., medical records,doctor's notes, patient visits, patient profile statistics, etc.) toidentify medical events and their dates. The system is capable ofanalyzing both structured and unstructured text from the patient medicalinformation. The system also utilizes text analytics on medicalreference information, or general medical knowledge, to identifypotential side effects of the patients based on their patient medicalinformation. The system may then build a timeline for the identifiedmedical events and the identified potential side effects, where thetimeline takes into account the time intervals of occurrence of the sideeffects. The system may further send a notification to a deviceindicating, prior to their occurrence, the identified potential sideeffect. Essentially, the system warns patients of the potential for aside effect associated with their medical events prior to the sideeffects being experienced.

Providing a system to track potential side effects and notify thepatient of the possible occurrence and severity of a side effect canreducing the number of patient medical visits, which would reducemedical costs for both patients and medical offices. In addition,identifying potentially dangerous and severe side effects more quicklycould have direct impact on the patient's overall treatment and healthoutcomes.

An example computing environment for use with present inventionembodiments is illustrated in FIG. 1. Specifically, the computingenvironment includes one or more server systems 10, and one or moreclient systems 20. Server systems 10 and client systems 20 may be remotefrom each other and communicate over a network 30. The network may beimplemented by any number of any suitable communications media (e.g.,wide area network (WAN), local area network (LAN), Internet, Intranet,etc.). Alternatively, server systems 10 and client systems 20 may belocal to each other, and communicate via any appropriate localcommunication medium (e.g., local area network (LAN), hardwire, wirelesslink, Intranet, etc.).

Server systems 10 may be implemented by any conventional or othercomputer systems preferably equipped with a display or monitor, a base(e.g., including at least one CPU or processor 12, one or more memories16, and/or internal or external network interfaces or communicationsdevices 14 (e.g., modem, network cards, etc.)), optional input devices(e.g., a keyboard, mouse or other input device), and any commerciallyavailable and custom software (e.g., server/communications software,medical information analytics module 40, medical timeline module 42,medical alert module 44, etc.).

Client systems 20 may be preferably equipped with at least one CPU orprocessor 12, one or more memories 16, internal or external networkinterfaces or communications devices 14 (e.g., transceiver, networkcards, etc.)), and/or optional input or output devices (e.g., akeyboard, mouse or other input device, a display, etc.). The clientsystems 20 may further include any commercially available or customsoftware and/or hardware modules for the particular device to performdevice operations (e.g., applications, browser, communications software,medical information input module 46, etc.). Client systems 20 maycommunicate with server systems 10 for uploading patient medicalinformation, updating medical reference information, and determiningpotential adverse side effects of a patient.

Medical information input module 46 enables users of the client systems20 to submit general medical information or medical referenceinformation to server systems 10 for sets of data stored by the serversystems 10 on the medical information database 18. These users may bemedical professionals (doctors, nurses, technicians, etc.), medicalresearchers, etc. The medical reference information may include, but isnot limited to, general medical knowledge known to those in the medicalfield and industry. This includes information published in medicaljournals, medical encyclopedias, medical textbooks, medical research,etc. The medical information input module 46 may also enable the serversystems 10 to pull new or relevant medical reference information fromclient systems 20 to update the database 18 with the latest medicalknowledge. Medical information input module 46 also enables users of theclient systems 20 to submit patient medical information (e.g., patientmedical records, doctor's notes, prescriptions, patient visits, etc.) toserver systems 10 to be stored and analyzed by the server systems 10.The medical information input module 46 may also enable the serversystems 10 to pull new or relevant patient medical information from theclient systems 20 without requiring the users of the client systems 20to upload the information to the server systems 10. These users may bethe patient themselves, or may include other users such as, but notlimited to, doctors of the patient, nurses associated with the doctors,and/or office personal that work in the office of the doctors. Asfurther explained below, the medical information input module 46 mayalso enable a user of the client systems 20 to query the server systems10 to determine if symptoms experienced by the user are a side effect ofa recent medical event.

One or more databases 18 may store various types of information (e.g.,patient medical information, medical reference information, etc.). Thedatabase 18 may be implemented by any conventional storage unit, may belocal to, or remote from, server systems 10 and client systems 20, andmay communicate via any appropriate communication medium (e.g., localarea network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), Internet, hardwire,wireless link, Intranet, etc.). The client systems 20 may present agraphical user interface (e.g., GUI, etc.) or other type of interface(e.g., command line prompts, menu screens, etc.) to send data to theserver systems 10, and may provide various types of information,including patient medical information and medical reference information.

The medical information analytics module 40 of the server systems 10 isconfigured to analyze both structured and unstructured text of thepatient medical information to identify medical events, dates, and anyother relevant data of the patient (i.e., patient profile statistics).As further explained below, this relevant information is utilized by themedical information analytics module 40 to determine if a patient has alikelihood of experiencing any potential adverse side effects as aresult of any medications (i.e., current, past, and future medications),treatments, prior illnesses, etc. The medical information analyticsmodule 40 compares and analyzes the relevant medical information of thepatient medical information with the medical reference informationstored in database 18 to identify the potential of any side effects of apatient and the corresponding time intervals of occurrence of theidentified side effects.

The server systems 10 also include a medical timeline module 42. In theevent that the medical information analytics module 40 determines thatone or more side effects are probable for a patient, the medicaltimeline module 42 plots the time intervals of occurrence for the sideeffects (i.e., when the patient would experience the side effects, theduration in which each of the probable side effects would beexperienced, etc.). The medical timeline module 42 may determine timeinterval ranges in which a side effect may occur and the duration of theside effect. The time intervals may be any amount of time including, butnot limited to, seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years,etc. The medical timeline module 42 may also have access to or bepopulated with the identified medical event dates from the patientmedical information to enable the medical timeline module 42 toaccurately determine and locate the time intervals of occurrence of anyidentified potential side effects.

The server systems 10 also include a medical alert module 44. Themedical alert module 44 works with the medical timeline module 42 tosend alerts to client systems 20 prior to a scheduled time interval ofoccurrence for a potential side effect. For example, if the medicaltimeline module 42 indicates that a patient may experience a side effectfive days after receiving a treatment, the medical alert module 44 may,on the fourth day from the date of the treatment, send the client system20 a notification that the patient may experience a certain side effectthe next day. As previously explained, the users of the client systems20 may be the patients themselves, or may include other users such as,but not limited to, doctors of a patient, nurses associated with thedoctors, and/or office personal that work in the office of the doctors.Thus, the medical alert module 44 may send the notification to theclient system 20 of the patient, or may send the notification to theclient system 20 of a doctor's office of the patient, where the doctor'soffice could notify the patient that they may experience a side effectfrom a recent treatment received. As further explained below, themedical alert module 44 may be an active alert system or a passive alertsystem.

Modules 40, 42, 44, 46 may include one or more modules or units toperform the various functions of the present invention embodimentsdescribed below. The various modules (e.g., medical informationanalytics module 40, medical timeline module 42, medical alert module44, medical information input module 46, etc.) may be implemented by anycombination of any quantity of software and/or hardware modules orunits, and may reside within memory 16 of the server system 10 and/orclient systems 20 for execution by processor 12.

Turning to FIG. 2, illustrated is a flow chart 200 of the stepsperformed for analyzing and monitoring medical events to determine thepossibility of adverse side effects of a patient. The flow chart 200illustrated in FIG. 2 may be performed by the multiple devices (e.g.,server system 10 and client systems 20) illustrated in FIG. 1 to operatethe modules 40, 42, 44, and 46 to detect medical events and otherrelevant medical information in the patient medical information, analyzethe medical events and the relevant medical information in light of themedical reference information, determine the possibility that thepatient will experience an adverse side effect, and notify the patientwhen any determined adverse side effects may occur. At block 205, themedical information analytics module 40 may perform text analytics onthe patient medical information of block 210. The patient medicalinformation of block 210 may include, but is not limited to, patientprofile statistics, patient medical records, doctor's notes,prescriptions, etc. The patient medical information may be uploaded tothe server system 10 from the client system 20 via the medicalinformation input module 46, or may be pulled from the client systems 20by the server systems 10 via the medical information input module 46.The patient medical information of block 210 may be in both a structuredformat and an unstructured format. The medical information analyticsmodule 40 may utilize rules-based and/or statistical text analytics toanalyze the unstructured text of the patient medical information toacquire and extract relevant information. The medical informationanalytics module 40 may also utilize the structured information and dataof the patient medical information to acquire and extract relevantinformation. Relevant medical information may include, but is notlimited to medical events (e.g., treatments, symptoms experienced,etc.), patient profile statistics (e.g., height, weight, gender,ethnicity, blood type, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.), medicationnames, etc.

At block 215, the medical information analytics module 40 may performtext analytics on the medical reference information of block 220 inlight of the relevant information acquired in block 205 from the patientmedical information of block 210. The medical information analyticsmodule 40 may acquire the medical reference information from thedatabase 18, or may query client systems 20 for medical referenceinformation updates. Similar to the patient medical information of block210, the medical reference information 220 may be formatted both in anunstructured and a structured format. Thus, the medical informationanalytics module 40 may utilize rules-based and/or statistical textanalytics of the unstructured text of the medical reference informationof block 220 to determine if, based on the relevant informationextracted at block 205, that the patient may experience a side effect inthe future. In addition, the medical information analytics module 40 mayalso utilize any structured information of the medical referenceinformation of block 220 to determine if, based on the relevantinformation extracted at block 205, that the patient may experience aside effect in the future. The medical information analytics module 40may also analyze the medical reference information of block 220 todetermine the time intervals of occurrence for each of the identifiedside effects.

At block 225, the medical information analytics module 40 determineswhether or not a patient, based on the analysis of the patient medicalinformation of block 210 and the analysis of the medical referenceinformation of block 220, is likely to experience some type of adverseside effect. As previously explained, the adverse side effect may be aresult of medication being taken, a procedure that was performed on thepatient, a disease that the patient has been previously diagnosed with,etc., where this information was discovered by the medical informationanalytics module 40 at block 205 when performing text analytics on thepatient medical information of block 210. If, at block 225, a potentialadverse side effect is identified, then, at block 230, the medicaltimeline module 42 generates or builds a timeline of the identifiedpotential adverse side effects and of the medical event or events thatmay have triggered the adverse side effects (i.e., the time intervals ofoccurrence for each identified potential adverse side effect, the timeintervals between each identified potential adverse side effect and thecorresponding medical event, etc.). The medical timeline module 42 also,at block 230 tracks the current date and/or time in view of the medicalevent and the timeline of the potential adverse side effects (i.e., thetime interval between the current date and the scheduled time intervalof occurrence for each identified potential adverse side effect).

When the current date and/or time at block 230 indicates that apotential adverse side effect could soon be experienced by the patient(i.e., within a day, within an hour, etc.), then, at block 235, themedical alert module 44 sends a notification to at least one of theclient systems 20 prior to the initiation of the corresponding timeinterval of the adverse side effect. The notification may inform theuser of the client system 20 the type of adverse side effect, thesymptoms of the adverse side effect, the duration or time interval ofthe adverse side effects, the medical event in connection with theadverse side effect, etc. As previously explained, the client system 20may be a device of the patient themselves, or may be a device of theoffice of the doctor associated with the medical event connected to theadverse side effect.

Turning to FIG. 3, illustrated is a flow chart 300 of the stepsperformed for actively notifying a user of a client system 20 of anidentified potential adverse side effect. The flow chart 300 illustratedin FIG. 3 may be performed by the multiple devices (e.g., server system10 and client systems 20) illustrated in FIG. 1 to operate the modules40, 42, 44, and 46 to detect medical events and other relevant medicalinformation in the patient medical information, analyze the medicalevents and the relevant medical information in light of the medicalreference information, and actively notify a user when any determinedadverse side effects may occur. At block 305, the medical informationanalytics module 40 may use text analytics to analyze the medicalreference information to build a predictive or statistical model. Aspreviously explained, the medical information analytics module 40 mayacquire the medical reference information when it is stored in thedatabase 18, or may query client systems 20 for medical informationupdates to the medical reference information. The medical referenceinformation may be formatted in an unstructured and structured format,where the medical information analytics module 40 may utilizerules-based and/or statistical text analytics to analyze theunstructured text of the medical reference information and acquire datafrom the unstructured text. The medical information analytics module 40may utilize any structured information of the medical referenceinformation in combination with the data acquired from analyzing theunstructured information to build the predictive model.

At block 310, the medical information analytics module 40 may performtext analytics on the patient medical information (e.g., patient profilestatistics, patient medical records, doctor's notes, prescriptions,etc.) for a patient. As previously explained, the patient medicalinformation may be in both a structured format and an unstructuredformat, where the medical information analytics module 40 may utilizerules-based and/or statistical text analytics to acquire and extractrelevant information from the unstructured information of the patientmedical information. The medical information analytics module 40 mayalso utilize the structured information and data of the patient medicalinformation do acquire and extract relevant information.

At block 315, once the relevant information has been extracted from thepatient medical information, the medical information analytics module 40inputs the relevant information into the predictive model. At block 320,the predictive model analyzes the relevant information to generate aconfidence score, percentage, or ratio representing the likelihood thepatient would experience any potential adverse side effects. Forexample, the relevant information extracted from the patient medicalinformation may include, but is not limited to, the patient's profilestatistics, medications currently being taken, treatments received inthe past and adverse side effects experienced from those treatments,recent treatments, etc. This relevant information may be inserted intothe predictive model, where the predictive model provides a confidencescore for each potential adverse side effects the patient may possiblyexperience as a result of their relevant information.

At block 325, the medical information analytics module 40 determines ifany of the potential adverse side effects contained a confidence scoreabove a predetermined threshold. The threshold may be set by a user of aclient system 20 (e.g., the patient themselves, the patient's doctor,etc.), or may be calculated by the medical information analytics module40. For example, the medical information analytics module 40 maydetermine that confidence scores above a certain threshold are morelikely than not to be experienced by the patient. If, at block 325, themedical information analytics module 40 determines that an identifiedpotential adverse side effect does not contain a confidence score abovethe predetermined threshold, then the medical information analyticsmodule 40 does not notify the client system 20 of the adverse sideeffect.

However, if, at block 325, the medical information analytics module 40determines that an identified potential adverse side effect does containa confidence score above the predetermined threshold, then the medicalalert module 44 automatically sends a notification of the client system20. In accordance with the example embodiment of FIG. 2, if anyidentified potential adverse side effects do contain a confidence scoreabove the predetermined threshold, the medical timeline module 42 maygenerate or build a timeline of the identified potential adverse sideeffects and of the medical event or events that triggered the identifiedpotential adverse side effects. The medical alert module 44 willautomatically send a notification to the client system(s) 20 prior tothe scheduled time interval of occurrence for the identified potentialadverse side effects. The notification sent by the medical alert module44 may be in the form of any message, including, but not limited to, anSMS text message, an email, a software bot, a software application, anin-application statement, a voice message, a pop-up message, etc. Themedical alert module 44 may send the notification to the client system20 based on the timeline created by the medical timeline module 42.

FIG. 4 illustrates a client system 20 in the form of a mobile electronicdevice 400, where the mobile electronic device belongs to a patient. Asillustrated, the mobile electronic device 400 includes a screen 405.When the mobile electronic device 400 receives a notification 410 fromthe medical alert module 44 of the server system 10, the mobileelectronic device 400 may display the notification 410 on the screen 405such that it is visible to the user (e.g., the patient) of the mobileelectronic device 400. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the notification 410may indicate to the user, the adverse side effect (e.g., fever) and theduration of the adverse side effect (e.g., 1-3 days).

Turning to FIG. 5, illustrated is a flow chart 500 of the stepsperformed for passively notifying a user of a client system 20 of apotential adverse side effect. The flow chart 500 illustrated in FIG. 5may be performed by the multiple devices (e.g., server system 10 andclient systems 20) illustrated in FIG. 1 to operate the modules 40, 42,44, and 46 to detect medical events and other relevant medicalinformation in the patient medical information, analyze the medicalevents and the relevant medical information in light of the medicalreference information, and passively notify a user of the adverse sideeffects when inquired by from the user. At block 505, the medicalinformation analytics module 40 may use text analytics to analyze themedical reference information to build a predictive or statisticalmodel. Similar to the example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, themedical information analytics module 40 may acquire the medicalreference information when it is stored in the database 18, or may queryclient systems 20 for medical information updates to the medicalreference information. The medical reference information may beformatted in an unstructured and structured format, where the medicalinformation analytics module 40 may utilize rules-based and/orstatistical text analytics to analyze the unstructured text of themedical reference information and acquire data from the unstructuredtext. The medical information analytics module 40 may utilize anystructured information of the medical reference information incombination of the data acquired from analyzing the unstructuredinformation to build the predictive model. Some examples of the type ofpredictive models include, but are not limited to, a naive Bayesclassifiers model, an ordinary least squares model, a multivariateadaptive regression splines model, a neural network model, etc.

At block 510, the user (e.g., patient, doctor, nurse, etc.) of a clientsystem 20 may notify the server system 10 that the patient isexperiencing medical symptoms or some type of side effect. The clientsystem 20 may send the notification and the type of symptoms or effectsthe patient is experiencing through the medical information input module46 of the client systems 20.

At block 515, in response to receiving the notification of the patientat block 510, the medical information analytics module 40 of the serversystem 10 may perform text analytics on the patient medical information(e.g., patient profile statistics, patient medical records, doctor'snotes, prescriptions, etc.) for that patient. As previously explained,the patient medical information may have already been uploadedpreviously to the server systems 10, or the server systems 10 mayrequest or pull the latest patient medical information from the clientsystems 20. The patient medical information may be in both a structuredformat and an unstructured format, where the medical informationanalytics module 40 may utilize rules-based and/or statistical textanalytics to acquire and extract relevant information from theunstructured information of the patient medical information. The medicalinformation analytics module 40 may also utilize the structuredinformation and data of the patient medical information to acquire andextract relevant information.

At block 520, once the relevant information has been extracted from thepatient medical information, the medical information analytics module 40inputs the relevant information into the predictive model. At block 525,the predictive model analyzes the relevant information to generate aconfidence score, percentage, or ratio representing the likelihood thepatient would experience any potential adverse side effects. Forexample, the relevant information extracted from the patient medicalinformation may include, but is not limited to, the current symptoms andside effects reported by the patient, the patient's profile statistics,medications currently being taken, treatments received in the past andadverse side effects experienced from those treatments, recenttreatments, etc. This relevant information may be inserted into thepredictive model, where the predictive model provides a confidence scorefor each adverse side effects the patient may possibly experience as aresult of their relevant information.

At block 530, the medical information analytics module 40 determines ifany of the identified potential adverse side effects contained aconfidence score above a predetermined threshold. Similar to the exampleembodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the threshold may be set by a user ofa client system 20 (e.g., the patient themselves, the patient's doctor,etc.), or may be calculated by the medical information analytics module40. For example, the medical information analytics module 40 maydetermine that confidence scores above a certain threshold are morelikely than not to be experienced by the patient.

If, at block 530, the medical information analytics module 40 determinesthat any identified potential adverse side effects do contain aconfidence score above the predetermined threshold, then the medicaltimeline module 42, at block 535 compares the scheduled time interval ofoccurrence for each of the identified potential adverse side effectshaving a high enough confidence score with the current date, or the datein which the notification about the patient was received. At block 540,the medical timeline module 42 then determines whether the symptomsexperienced by the patient align within the time period of theidentified potential adverse side effects. If at block 540, the medicaltimeline module 42 determines that the experienced symptoms do alignwith at least one of the identified potential side effects, the medicalalert module 44, may, at block 545 send a notification of the adverseside effect to the client system 20 that submitted the query at block510. However, if, at block 540, the medical timeline module 42determines that the experienced symptoms do not align along the timelinewith at least one of the identified potential side effects, the medicalalert module 44, may, at block 550, send a notification to the clientsystem 20 that the symptoms experienced by the patient are not anidentified side effect in accordance with the patient medicalinformation.

Returning to block 530, if the medical information analytics module 40determines that any identified potential adverse side effects do notcontain a confidence score above the predetermined threshold, then themedical alert module 44 may send a notification to the client system 20that originated the query in block 510 that the symptoms experienced bythe patient may not be an identified side effect in accordance with thepatient medical information.

In one example embodiment in accordance with FIG. 5, the patient maysend the query of block 510 to the server system 10 via an applicationrunning on their client system 20 by way of the medical informationinput module 46, and the notification received regarding whether or notthe experienced symptoms are an identified side effect of the medicalhistory of the patient is received in the application of the clientsystem 20. In other example embodiments, the notification sent by themedical alert module 44 may be in the form of any message, including,but not limited to, an SMS text message, an email, a software bot, asoftware application, an in-application statement, a voice message, apop-up message, etc., where the notification is sent in response toreceiving the query from the client system 20 in block 510.

It will be appreciated that the embodiments described above andillustrated in the drawings represent only a few of the many ways ofimplementing embodiments for monitoring medical events for adverseeffects.

The embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings improvemedical outcomes while decreasing medical costs to the medical industry.The embodiments described above may prevent repeated trips to the doctorby patients experiencing temporary and typical side effects that are ofno minor significance. The embodiments described above, may also enablea patient to identify when they are not experiencing a potential sideeffect from a treatment received or medications taken, which can promptthe patient to seek immediate medical attention.

In some embodiments, the client systems 20 may be equipped with sensorsthat measure abnormal physiological conditions of a user (e.g., patient)of the client system 20. The sensors may be in communication with themedical information input module of the client systems 20 to enable theconditions to be sent to the server system 10, where the server system20 can analyze the conditions in conjunction with the user's patientmedical information to determine any potential adverse side effects. Inaddition, in the embodiments described above, the medical alert module44 may determine the best available message system in which to send anotification to the client systems 20. The medical alert module 44 mayutilize user personal preferences, the time of day, the severity of theadverse side effect, and other factors, for determining the type ofmessage system in which to send the notification to the client system20. For example, the medical alert module 44 may be triggered in themiddle of the night to send a notification regarding a non-lifethreatening adverse side effect, and would determine that email may be amore suitable type of message system than that of an SMS message.Furthermore, in the embodiments described above, the medical alertmodule 44 may further utilize a set of factors (e.g., user personalpreferences, the severity of the adverse side effect, etc.) fordetermining the client systems 20 in which to send a notification. Forexample, more severe adverse side effects may be sent to both the clientsystem 20 of the patient and the client system 20 of the doctor of thepatient.

The environment of the present invention embodiments may include anynumber of computer or other processing systems (e.g., client or end-usersystems, server systems, etc.) and databases or other repositoriesarranged in any desired fashion, where the present invention embodimentsmay be applied to any desired type of computing environment (e.g., cloudcomputing, client-server, network computing, mainframe, stand-alonesystems, etc.). The computer or other processing systems employed by thepresent invention embodiments may be implemented by any number of anypersonal or other type of computer or processing system (e.g., desktop,laptop, PDA, mobile devices, etc.), and may include any commerciallyavailable operating system and any combination of commercially availableand custom software (e.g., browser software, communications software,server software, medical information analytics module, medical timelinemodule, medical alert module, medical information input module, etc.).These systems may include any types of monitors and input devices (e.g.,keyboard, mouse, voice recognition, etc.) to enter and/or viewinformation.

It is to be understood that the software (e.g., medical informationanalytics module, medical timeline module, medical alert module, medicalinformation input module, etc.) of the present invention embodiments maybe implemented in any desired computer language and could be developedby one of ordinary skill in the computer arts based on the functionaldescriptions contained in the specification and flow charts illustratedin the drawings. Further, any references herein of software performingvarious functions generally refer to computer systems or processorsperforming those functions under software control. The computer systemsof the present invention embodiments may alternatively be implemented byany type of hardware and/or other processing circuitry.

The various functions of the computer or other processing systems may bedistributed in any manner among any number of software and/or hardwaremodules or units, processing or computer systems and/or circuitry, wherethe computer or processing systems may be disposed locally or remotelyof each other and communicate via any suitable communications medium(e.g., LAN, WAN, Intranet, Internet, hardwire, modem connection,wireless, etc.). For example, the functions of the present inventionembodiments may be distributed in any manner among the variousend-user/client and server systems, and/or any other intermediaryprocessing devices. The software and/or algorithms described above andillustrated in the flow charts may be modified in any manner thataccomplishes the functions described herein. In addition, the functionsin the flow charts or description may be performed in any order thataccomplishes a desired operation.

The software of the present invention embodiments (e.g., medicalinformation analytics module, medical timeline module, medical alertmodule, medical information input module, etc.) may be available on anon-transitory computer useable medium (e.g., magnetic or opticalmediums, magneto-optic mediums, floppy diskettes, CD-ROM, DVD, memorydevices, etc.) of a stationary or portable program product apparatus ordevice for use with stand-alone systems or systems connected by anetwork or other communications medium.

The communication network may be implemented by any number of any typeof communications network (e.g., LAN, WAN, Internet, Intranet, VPN,etc.). The computer or other processing systems of the present inventionembodiments may include any conventional or other communications devicesto communicate over the network via any conventional or other protocols.The computer or other processing systems may utilize any type ofconnection (e.g., wired, wireless, etc.) for access to the network.Local communication media may be implemented by any suitablecommunication media (e.g., local area network (LAN), hardwire, wirelesslink, Intranet, etc.).

The system may employ any number of any conventional or other databases,data stores or storage structures (e.g., files, databases, datastructures, data or other repositories, etc.) to store information(e.g., patient medical information, medical reference information,etc.). The database system may be implemented by any number of anyconventional or other databases, data stores or storage structures(e.g., files, databases, data structures, data or other repositories,etc.) to store information (e.g., patient medical information, medicalreference information, etc.). The database system may be included withinor coupled to the server and/or client systems. The database systemsand/or storage structures may be remote from or local to the computer orother processing systems, and may store any desired data (e.g., patientmedical information, medical reference information, etc.).

The present invention embodiments may employ any number of any type ofuser interface (e.g., Graphical User Interface (GUI), command-line,prompt, etc.) for obtaining or providing information (e.g., patientmedical information, medical reference information, etc.), where theinterface may include any information arranged in any fashion. Theinterface may include any number of any types of input or actuationmechanisms (e.g., buttons, icons, fields, boxes, links, etc.) disposedat any locations to enter/display information and initiate desiredactions via any suitable input devices (e.g., mouse, keyboard, etc.).The interface screens may include any suitable actuators (e.g., links,tabs, etc.) to navigate between the screens in any fashion.

The present invention embodiments are not limited to the specific tasksor algorithms described above, but may be utilized for monitoringmedical events for adverse side effects by analyzing patient medicalinformation and medical reference information.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”,“comprising”, “includes”, “including”, “has”, “have”, “having”, “with”and the like, when used in this specification, specify the presence ofstated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present invention has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of monitoring medical events for adverseeffects comprising: identifying one or more medical events withinmedical information of patients by applying first analytics to themedical information, wherein the medical information includesunstructured information; determining adverse effects of the identifiedmedical events and corresponding time intervals of occurrence byapplying second analytics to medical reference information, whereineffect information includes the identified medical events, determinedadverse effects, and corresponding time intervals of occurrence;determining from the effect information one or more adverse effects fora medical event of a patient and the corresponding time intervals ofoccurrence; and notifying a user of the determined adverse effects priorto initiation of the corresponding time intervals of occurrence.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the unstructured information comprises one ormore from a group of medical records, medical notes, and informationpertaining to visits to medical facilities.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the one or more medical events include one or more from a groupof a medical procedure and a medical treatment.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the first and second analytics include one or more from agroup of rule-based analytics and statistical analytics.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein the medical reference information includes patientprofile statistics.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining theone or more adverse effects comprises: generating a confidence score foreach of the determined adverse effects via a predictive model.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, wherein notifying the user comprises: sending anotification to the user indicating a determined adverse effect inresponse to the confidence score for that adverse effect satisfying athreshold.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein notifying the usercomprises: indicating to the user each adverse effect with a confidencescore satisfying a threshold.
 9. A system for monitoring medical eventsfor adverse effects comprising: at least one processor configured to:identify one or more medical events within medical information ofpatients by applying first analytics to the medical information, whereinthe medical information includes unstructured information; determineadverse effects of the identified medical events and corresponding timeintervals of occurrence by applying second analytics to medicalreference information, wherein effect information includes theidentified medical events, determined adverse effects, and correspondingtime intervals of occurrence; determine from the effect information oneor more adverse effects for a medical event of a patient and thecorresponding time intervals of occurrence; and notify a user of thedetermined adverse effects prior to initiation of the corresponding timeintervals of occurrence.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein theunstructured information comprises one or more from a group of medicalrecords, medical notes, and information pertaining to visits to medicalfacilities.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more medicalevents include one or more from a group of a medical procedure and amedical treatment, and wherein the medical reference informationincludes patient profile statistics.
 12. The system of claim 9, whereinthe first and second analytics include one or more from a group ofrule-based analytics and statistical analytics.
 13. The system of claim9, wherein determining the one or more adverse effects furthercomprises: generating a confidence score for each of the determinedadverse effects via a predictive model.
 14. The method of claim 13,wherein notifying the user comprises: sending a notification to the userindicating a determined adverse effect in response to the confidencescore for that adverse effect satisfying a threshold.
 15. A computerprogram product for monitoring medical events for adverse effectscomprising: a computer readable storage medium having programinstructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable bya processor to cause the processor to: identify one or more medicalevents within medical information of patients by applying firstanalytics to the medical information, wherein the medical informationincludes unstructured information; determine adverse effects of theidentified medical events and corresponding time intervals of occurrenceby applying second analytics to medical reference information, whereineffect information includes the identified medical events, determinedadverse effects, and corresponding time intervals of occurrence;determine from the effect information one or more adverse effects for amedical event of a patient and the corresponding time intervals ofoccurrence; and notify a user of the determined adverse effects prior toinitiation of the corresponding time intervals of occurrence.
 16. Thecomputer program product of claim 15, wherein the unstructuredinformation comprises one or more from a group of medical records,medical notes, and information pertaining to visits to medicalfacilities.
 17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein theone or more medical events include one or more from a group of a medicalprocedure and a medical treatment, and wherein the medical referenceinformation includes patient profile statistics.
 18. The computerprogram product of claim 15, wherein the first and second analyticsinclude one or more from a group of rule-based analytics and statisticalanalytics.
 19. The computer program product of claim 15, whereindetermining the one or more adverse effects further comprises:generating a confidence score for each of the determined adverse effectsvia a predictive model.
 20. The computer program product of claim 19,wherein notifying the user comprises: sending a notification to the userindicating a determined adverse effect in response to the confidencescore for that adverse effect satisfying a threshold.